Scientist: Wash. dock looks just like one in Ore.

A scientist who examined the dock that has washed ashore on Washington's Olympic Peninsula says it looks just like the one that came ashore on a central Oregon beach last summer.

John Chapman, an assistant professor of fisheries at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center, said Friday the Washington dock has the same dimensions and configuration as the one near Newport, Ore.

But there was no commemorative plaque to identify where it came from.

The Oregon dock broke loose from a Japanese fishing port in 2011.

Chapman says 30 marine species were identified on the Washington dock — more than 100 were found on the Oregon dock.

He says the Washington dock was in the ocean longer, and fewer species from Japan survived.